By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 6 – April 16, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Two projects to boost the performance of the microbiology laboratory at University Health Services in Augusta, Ga., significantly reduced test turnaround times in ways that contributed to improved patient outcomes. The first project was in 2016, when the lab introduced mass spectrometry and MALDI-TOF for bacterial infections, cutting turnaround times from 104 to
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 6 – April 24, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Is it a new sign of the times? After decades of reluctance to sell their lab outreach businesses or enter into inpatient lab management agreements with commercial lab companies, a surprising number of hospitals and health systems are taking that step. Since the first of the year, sales of several major hospital lab
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 4 – March 13, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Is the New Year’s spate of deals involving the sales of hospital lab outreach programs and a new joint venture the first tremors of an impending earthquake of similar transactions? In the first 10 weeks of 2017, Laboratory Corporation of America, Quest Diagnostics, and Sonic Healthcare announced significant agreements to purchase sizeable hospital
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXIII No. 4 – March 21, 2016 issue
Tougher times in the clinical lab testing market have claimed another lab company. On February 28, Artherotech, Inc., posted a notice on its website stating that it had closed permanently, as of that date. Along with its several hundred employees, Artherotech’s closure caught many lab executives by surprise. Founded in 1994, during the heyday of closed-panel
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXIII No. 3 – February 29, 2016 issue
Sandy, Utah-based Sure Genomics is the latest genetic testing company to get a letter from the Food and Drug Administration asking why the company is marketing its SureDNA genetic testing kit to consumers without first obtaining clearance from the federal agency. The FDA sent the letter to Sure Genomics earlier this month and noted that the
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXIII, No. 2 - February 8, 2016 issue
Microbiology’s most important reagent is undergoing a supply crunch and becoming more expensive. Agar production is being affected by two factors. One is the increased global demand for seaweed. The second are new restrictions on the trade of seaweed, intended to protect natural stocks of seaweed. In December, Thermo Fisher Scientific of Waltham, Massachusetts, said it
By judeb
CEO SUMMARY: By combining total lab automation with Lean techniques in a comprehensive makeover of its microbiology lab, one of the largest labs providing hospital acute care and community microbiology services in North America achieved major benefits. Benefits ranged from improvements in lab result turnaround time and reduced errors to significant gains in staff productivity and the quality of
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXII No. 12 - August 24, 2015 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Clinical labs are beginning to make the transition from a volume-based financial model to a model based on value-based payments. To survive this transition, labs must find ways to create value. The lab at Henry Ford Health System has identified 10 ways that it can contribute more value to physicians and its parent health system. One way is to help eliminate needless tests and processes. Other initiatives involve improving supplier processes, helping to reduce patient length of stay, creating a lab test formulary, and demonstrating the financial efficacy of all lab interventio
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXII NO. 10 - July 13, 2015 issue
CEO SUMMARY: By combining total lab automation with Lean techniques in a comprehensive makeover of its microbiology lab, one of the largest labs providing hospital acute care and community microbiology services in North America achieved major benefits. Benefits ranged from improvements in lab result turnaround time and reduced errors to significant gains in staff productivity and the quality of lab test results. Productivity improvements allowed the micro lab to absorb a 15% increase in specimen volume while staff levels were reduced by six full-time equivalent MLTs.
PROBABLY NO AREA OF CLINICAL LABORATORY MEDICINE is experiencing the dramatic transformation happening in microbiology. From rapid molecular testing to the full automation of traditional manual processes, significant changes are happening in microbiology labs.
Moreover, the smart use of Lean techniques and quality management techniques magnify the positive effects of these new diagnostic technologies and automation
